Shots Fired Sunday: Scab Edition
Saturday, July 21, 2018 at 10:35PM Happy #ShotsFiredSunday everyone!
Here's another sacred cow to dismantle. There are too many scab versions of bands we love these days. Great White (and thus Jack Russell's Great White), RATT and Quiet Riot are pretty big offenders. Whenever I write about one of those bands, I inevitably get some angry comments and more than one person uses the word "joke." So maybe we should call a spade a spade and just call these versions for what they are: scabs. Is it time for us to stop supporting these scab versions of bands we love? If we quit paying to see nuRatt, will Stephen Pearcy and company knock it off and come to their senses? Probably not.
Tell The World: The Very Best Of Ratt
It's impossible to replace dead members so I do have sympathy for that, especially when that person was the lead singer as in Quiet Riot's case. But the ones left behind are professional musicians. Wouldn't it be better to create a new project? Another big issue here is that by putting a stake in the ground and saying "No More!" to scab versions of these bands, it means we're cutting off a part of our history. We're stuck in a time where RATT, for example, was the core five guys playing "Round and Round" live in 1987. There are very few bands that have been around for decades that maintain the core group of members from the beginning. Music is work and you have probably changed jobs a few times, too. So where does that leave us? I'm honestly not sure. I continue to write about the bands I've loved for decades because I don't want to let them go. Maybe I should.
Reader Comments (11)
The Quiet Riot name Has tremendous value to Frankie, as that name gets them booked. Franke’s new project might not fare so well. Plus, can Frankie really create something new? Look at the disaster that is ‘Road Rage’. Bottom line is for him to co Tunis to have a career that he is in charge of, it needs to be under the QR name.
[[First, a bit of a digression. The term 'scab' really doesn't apply in most cases to most of the bands being talked about. There is no strike when a person dies or quits a band. And, even if you take the concept of a band as being a business (which it certainly is), there are very few cases where certain workers hold out for better pay, working conditions, hours, etc. Some people leave/get fired because they don't get paid what they think is fair/aren't as important to the goals of the band/corporation (Ghost) and then sue; others argue the merits of a band/corporation continuing without them or their consent or in a form materially different from what they believe to be contractually agreed upon (Ratt); and others argue for how the band's/corporation's interests are best served going forward after a split and/or what the approximate value is of the corporation ('Ryche). If anything remotely relates to the term 'scab' in its standard sense, it is by way of extension: band's/corporation's usually retain the right to hire and fire who they wish and continue on as they see fit, should they so choose, and given who retains rights to the entity in whole or part. That is proximate to strike-busting; but it is not actually the case in these instances given that no strike was conducted. It is more a version of the 'at-will' clause that some companies have in places that allow it.]]
Back to the topic: some 'scabs' don't deserve the label. Crane, Corabi, Cavazo, and several others come to mind initially. They are new employees who do justice to the band they serve. And, even if we are to cast a critical eye, it is always tempered by what we, as fans, want the band to do . . . not what the band has a right to do. Was Dio a Sabbath scab? Was Johnson in AC/DC? Those two cases are different in several ways. But the point stands (as does my admitted displeasure with Axl being in GnR . . . which has nothing to do with him being a scab, by the way).
Quiet Riot is an interesting case. I suspect no one here (on this site) really enjoys the new version of the band, led by a non-original (though integral) member. But, as has already been mentioned: (1) What else would Banali do to earn a living that would get him something approximating the value he gets from the brand? (2) Many casual fans don't really care.
What's more, to those of us who feel that we _do_ care, we are left with several questions also already raised. Do we, as fans, stop showing up? Some do. Do we denigrate those bands for making a living even if we stop supporting them? Some do. Moreover, I think all of us have picked our spots on those last two questions given just how strong our sense of connection is to the band in question. So it is, alas, fairly relative (again).
One final comment: bands that stay--or get back--together often don't do so out of any sense of loyalty or dedication to the purity of their cause. They do it because it makes business sense. So holding those bands up while looking down at the others is a bit twisted. Sure, some do, for the most, stay together because it matter to them and their fans. But those bands are rare. Where Maiden, Priest, Sabbath, and even late-stage DuBrow-era QR fall on that spectrum is a matter of speculation.
Bottom-line: the concept of a band is such that calling a scab a scab means picking (pun-intended) which wounds matter to you. Shots fired, indeed. Thankfully, time heals . . .
I recently developed a new mindset and it started with Warrant. To me, Warrant isn't Warrant without Jani. That said, I'm glad they're still making music and I think Robert Mason is a great singer and front man.
So now, I listen to and appreciate Warrant as a new band - not the classic lineup of my youth. For some reason, it's easier for me to accept that way, rather than comparing everything they do now to the DRFSR days.
I realize that this is a different situation though because of a death. The Ratt, Great White, Queensryche, etc. situations are all ridiculous and give the genre yet another black eye.
Finally, I won't go see the current version of GNR. It's not GNR without Steven and Izzy. Kenny was spot on when he talked about the drunk guy on the lawn. It kills me that these people don't care who's on stage, as long as they hear Welcome to the Jungle!
I appreciate a good cover band - but cover songs that aren't "covered" by every other dang cover band.
Hey, HIM, I personally don’t dig on thinking of bands as businesses even though they are.
I much prefer the mystery and mystique surrounding a band rather than the purely transactional descriptions you seem to apply to them.
In this case, I was taking up the topic as it was presented and, in so doing, sticking up for some artists who could be labeled 'scabs' but really aren't.